Oracle Promises To Maintain Open-Source Status For Java Tools

Oracle remains committed to keeping Java an open source technology, despite its recent lawsuit against Google that some see as an effort to protect its hold on a critical technology it acquired with its $7.3 billion acquisition of Sun.

"The model for Java has always been that we give customers and the developer community [access to] open source Java and we also license it to commercial vendors under the standard license process," said Thomas Kurian, Oracle executive vice president or product development, during a press Q&A session at Oracle OpenWorld.

Oracle sued Google last month charging that Google's use of Java in its Android mobile operating system violates seven Java patents, as well as copyrighted material related to the Java platform. Oracle acquired the Java patents and intellectual property in January when it bought Sun which created Java in 1995.

During a keynote speech Monday Kurian provided conference attendees with a roadmap for ongoing Java development, including new OpenJDK (Java Development Kit) releases in 2011 and 2012, two new releases of the NetBeans desktop application development tools in 2011, and two new releases of the GlassFish J2EEapplication server in 2011.

In addition to those open-source Java offerings, Oracle is committed to releasing the JavaFX user interface controls as an open-source technology, Kurian said.

While a large group of EMC's investors continue to hope that EMC will sell parts of itself to create more clear valuation for them, EMC is likely heading in the opposite direction by considering more acquisitions, according to a top analyst.